Hidden
by Tea and a Notebook
Summary: Daniel joins Kate as she investigates an anonymous tip. What happens when it leads them to an abandoned building? DISCLAIMER: I don't own Perception.


Daniel detested small, enclosed areas. The confining walls did nothing to help his claustrophobia, and simply heightened his sense of paranoia. Plus, they were usually dusty. He hated dust.

In short, being trapped in such spaces was never a part of the schedules Lewicki worked so hard to create.

Then, of course, neither was Kate.

_***Six hours earlier***_

"So, I'll just check this place out and we'll be on our way, alright? It shouldn't take long," Kate said, glancing sideways at Daniel as she drove. The FBI had received an anonymous tip regarding an open case, and Agent Moretti had been sent to follow up. She decided to stop on her way to Daniel's apartment, dropping him off after he helped solve a particularly nasty case just that morning. "-and I normally wouldn't bring you with me," Kate was saying, "but Reardon has been riding me lately about being what she calls a _'taxi service...''" _She shook her head. "_I _don't mind," she insisted, "but, _god_, that woman is such a-"

Daniel, used to his friend's rants about her boss, placed a calming, reassuring hand on her shoulder, still clutching his briefcase to his chest with the other and staring straight ahead.

Kate broke off in the middle of her sentence and looked over at him in surprise. Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel could see her smile and visibly relax, loosening her grip on the steering wheel.

"Anyway," she said, "here we are." They had pulled into the driveway of a deserted house, a small, deteriorating building with a yard that was overgrown with weeds. Daniel peered out the windshield, taking it all in. It was very eery, and very, _very-_

"Cliche," Kate said with a laugh. Daniel, startled out of his thoughts, turned to Kate as she climbed out of the car. "That's what you were thinking, right?" she asked, leaning down into the open door. She gave another laugh. "Geez, I feel like I'm at the set of every awful horror movie ever made." Standing straight again, Kate asked, "Do you want to come in?"

This surprised Daniel greatly. He was usually commanded to "wait in the car!" and then was forced to watch as Kate walked confidently to apprehend someone, only to wind up leaping from balconies and having dumbbells thrown at her face by some crazed steroid junkie. Or something like that.

"Uh, alright," he replied, scrambling out of his seat. He followed Kate to the stairs of the porch, where she had him wait as she went inside. The door swung open at her touch, and he watched in awe as she burst into the house, gun cocked and ready. After a moment, she poked her head back out and gestured to him.

"Come on in," she told him, smiling.

Apprehensively, Daniel stepped into the building. Kate took one look at his face and laughed. "Do you really think I'd let you in here if it wasn't safe?" Daniel blushed and looked away. "These 'tips' never really do much for us, anyways." She leaned against a wall and closed her eyes, saying, "Ugh, do you mind if we just wait here for a minute? I feel like I haven't slept in- woah!" She jumped up and spun around. The wall had... shifted?

Kate turned to Daniel, raising her eyebrows. "Well, then. Help me move this?" she asked.

Daniel would very much prefer to leave _this_ stone unturned, thank you very much, but he knew that, with Kate, this was never an option. Her curiosity was what had made her a good student, what made her a good FBI agent now...

"Daniel?" she asked, breaking him out of his musings. Reluctantly, he shuffled over beside her and began to push on the wall, grunting as it gave way to reveal a set of stairs.

Excitedly, Kate peered down the staircase, looking over her shoulder at her counterpart with a girlish grin on her face. Much to Daniel's chagrin, she hopped down the stairs.

"Uh, Kate? Just out of curiosity, have you ever_ seen_ one of these horror movies?" Daniel asked as he followed her into the basement, looking around in fear.

"Come onnnnnn, Daniel!" Kate fake-whined. "Aren't you at least a _little_ curious?"

"Curiosity killed the cat," he muttered.

She turned to him with a phony look of wonder. "Wow, then imagine what it might do to the fidgety FBI agent and the paranoid schizophrenic!"

Daniel rolled his eyes at her and turned to inspect the place; enough light was seeping in from upstairs to give the cellar a hazy glow. Suddenly, he noticed a man standing to his right.

_ "Come on, Doc. Where's your head at?" _The guy looked at Daniel in disgust. _"When has going into the creepy basement in the abandoned pile of crap ever worked out for anyone?"_

Daniel shook his head. "You're not real," he murmured.

Kate turned to him. "What did you say?" she asked, brow creasing.

"Nothing. Listen, Kate... Can we please leave? Yea, it might be the crazy talking, but-"

"Daniel get down!" Kate shouted, yanking her gun from her holster. "Stop, FBI!" she exclaimed, aiming it up the stairs.

It was too late. Daniel spun just in time to see the wall from which they came sliding closed.

Kate leapt up the stairs, trying in vain to shift the impenetrable slab. They had to face the facts: Here they were, trapped in a 12x12 concrete... _cell._

_"I told you," _the figure said with a smirk, before disappearing.


End file.
